july 2005 c-7a caribou association page 1 c-7a caribou ... · the air show was the draw. this time...

July 2005 C-7A Caribou Association

NewsletterTime And Remembrance...

Kelly Lee Grissom - New BoardMember

Kelly Grissom was born on 8 November 1947 in Lub-bock, Texas. His dad Bob was a returning Army Air Corpveteran pilot flying B-17s during WWII. Kelly was in thefirst crop of the “Baby Boomers.”

He grew up in Midland, Texas. After high school heenlisted in the Air Force on 23 April 1967 took basic train-ing at Amarillo Air Force Base. From there he was sent toShepard Air Force Base for Tech School as an aircraftmechanic, then on to Nashville for C-7A school and thento Phu Cat, Vietnam, landing in country on 28 November1968. WHAT AN AWAKENING! He was assigned to the537th TAS working on aircraft 174. Kelly was first assigned

Terry “Obie” Obermiller – NewBoard Member

I am privileged to be asked to serve as a board mem-ber. It has been through the Caribou Association that Ihave been able to renew long lost relationships with someof the finest members of the military I have had the honorto serve with for more than thirty years.

I am currently working as a Program Analyst and Chief,Officer Assignments Branch, Headquarters Air Educationand Training Command (AETC), Randolph AFB, Texaswhere I started a second career in January 2000. This po-sition involves management of assignments for rated andsupport officers in and out of AETC, Air University andRecruiting Service. In so doing, I establish and imple-

It is hard to believe that thirty-five years have gone bysince I left Vietnam and the Caribou. I went alone to Viet-nam and I went alone to the Wall in 1982. I didn’t knowwhat to expect either time and the trip to Salt Lake wasthe same. I was looking forward to seeing the Caribouagain and I hoped the people I met in Odessa would bethere. Somehow it seemed appropriate that the first andlast legs of the trip would be flown on a Canadian-builtaircraft.

I had been to Hill before, TDY in 1971 and had foundit to be a beautiful place. I was lookingforward to seeing it again and was notdisappointed when the plane bankedaround the Wasatch Range and turnedon final. It was as I remembered. WhenI got to the hotel I checked in and wentto the War Room. There were severalscrapbooks out and the pictures took meback in time. I was pleased to meet JimHathcoat there. We had been exchanging e-mails andmeeting in person was a great pleasure. As we talked, Icould feel the difference between Odessa and Salt LakeCity. This time, there was a greater purpose to the re-

Impressions of the Salt Lake City ReunionRobert Blaylock [457, 70]

union. Also, I had spent most of my time at the airport inOdessa. The air show was the draw. This time it was aboutremembrance.

During the reunion, a man I didn’t really know told methat I had great stories but that he didn’t know how manywere true. That pretty well summed up my reason for beingthere and my interest in the history of the Air Force Cari-bou operation. As a Crew Chief, most of my informationcame second-hand at best. When the aircraft launched, weknew very little about what was unfolding during the mis-

sions. When we recovered the planes,we got some information in bits andpieces as we began to ready the aircraftfor the next day’s mission. Sometimeswe would have a longer conversationwith crew members. I met one of themen on the memorial plaque havingsuch a conversation. I wouldn’t say wewere friends, but we would talk briefly

after missions. Talking with him was the first time I everheard about Dak Seang. A couple of weeks later, he diedthere. I had thought of him a lot in the ensuing years, mostly

See Blaylock on Pg 5

See Grissom on page 5 See Obie on page 5

In This IssueAssociation Business ............... Page 22004 Business Minutes ............ Page 3Reunion News ........................... Page 6Reunion Demographics ............ Page 11Senior Profiles .......................... Page 12War Stories ................................ Page 14

Volume1, Issue 22 July 2005

Caribou AssociationC-7AC-7A

C-7A Caribou Association July 2005

Elected Officers and Board Members....

President/Board Member - Bob Markham [459, 69]Vice President/Board Member - Peter Bird [535, 71]Treasurer/Board Member - Jim Collier [537, 67]Secretary/Board Member - Wayne DeLawter [458, 66]Chairman of Board - Al Cunliffe [458, 68]Board Member at Large - Terry Obermiller [537, 69]Board Member at Large - Kelly Grissom [537, 67]

Appointed Officers...

Bereavement Chairman - Bob Markham [459, 69]Chaplains - Sonny Spurger[537, 68], Jon Drury [537, 68]Historian - Robert Blaylock [457,70]Parliamentarian - Wilson Petefish [535, 68]Newsletter Editor - Dave Hutchens [459, 69]Reunion Planner - Wayne DeLawter [458, 66]Assistant Reunion Planner - Huey Frye [457, 70]Reunion Advisor - Earl Reynolds [537, 66]Reunion Coordinator - Christine PhillipsWebmaster - Pete Bird [535, 71]President Emeritus - Nick Evanish [457, 66]Chaplain Emeritus - Bob Davis [457, 69]

Squadron Representatives...

457th Jim Fairweather458th Steve Lentz459th Bob Markham535th William Buesking536th Russell Riggleman537th Kelly Grissom

The C-7A Caribou Association Newsletter is theofficial publication of the C-7A Caribou Association.

Please advise the Association of any change of address, phone number, or e-mail address. Send

your changes to:Jim Collier5607 Jolly Ct.Fair Oaks, CA [email protected]

$10.00 dues are payable annually. Send your checkto Jim Collier, 5607 Jolly Ct., Fair Oaks, CA 95628-2707

All members are encouraged to communicate withthe editor of the Association Newsletter. Write, call ore-mail to:Dave Hutchens17916 E. 96th Street NorthOwasso, OK [email protected]

Thank You from the President:I want to thank the past board members and the commit-

tee chairmen for their input in last year’s agenda. A mer-chandise store was established and stocked with items that

we felt would be of liking to the mem-bers. The merchandise can be viewed onthe web site.

The dedication service at Hill AFB,Utah to honor the thirty-nine crew mem-bers who were killed in Vietnam was oursecond such service, the first being at

Dyess AFB, Texas in March of 2002. Again, this servicewas another of the C-7A Caribou Association’s finest hours.Bob Dugan was our master of ceremony, and he introducedour guest of honor, Ms Hillary Karsten Bundy

Hillary Karsten Bundy is the daughter of Capt WayneBundy, a member of the 537th TAS Phu Cat, Vietnam. He isone of the thirty-nine crewmembers that we were there tohonor. Bob thanked the Hill Air Force Base people thathelped make the dedication possible. He also thankedGeorge Harmon and the forty-two people that donated thefunds to repaint and repair the C-7A Caribou # 757. Thisairplane was part of the 537th at Phu Cat, Vietnam. TheHonor Guard was posted and the singer from the base sangthe National Anthem. We all joined in of the Pledge of Al-legiance.

Jon Drury gave the invocation. Our guest speaker wasSonny Spurger. As he read the name of each of the thirty-nine lost crewmembers, I had the honor of ringing the bellin memory of each member. George Harmon and TerryObermiller unveiled the plaque.

Later we all joined in the singing of God Bless America.Bob gave the order for playing of Taps, and retiring the

colors. Bob Davis gave the benediction.George Harmon thanked each of the forty-two people who

donated funds for the refurbishment of A/C 757.We lost control of the photo taking, so I’m hoping some-

one has a good selection of photos. We had a very enjoy-able lunch at the Club. Some people visited the museum,while others returned to the hotel.

During our banquet dinner Rene Canuel at long lastcoughed up a confession about his involvement in the miss-ing Caribou antlers from 483rd Wing Headquarters. Ourguest speaker, Jon Mood, conducted a slide show with slidesthat members brought to the reunion.

Everyone enjoyed the evening.We welcome the new board members and look forward

to next year’s reunion.Bob MarkhamPresidentC-7A Caribou Association.


C-7A Caribou Association Motion To Award Honor-ary Lifetime Member Status to Robert MarkhamWhereas;

Bob Markham has served as the 459th Squadron Rep-resentative since 1998. He has continually kept the 459th

advised of reunions and dedications. He has done an ex-ceptional job as Chair of the Bereavement Committee.He has served as COB and President of the Association.

He was primarily responsible, along with Bob Dugan,for the success of the Abilene Memorial Dedication. Hewas solely responsible for establishing the Associatemember category and getting the tremendous response ofrelatives attending. He has maintained contact with allthe relatives and provided the roster chairman with fre-

C-7A Caribou Association 2005 General Membership MeetingMay 13, 2005

Salt Lake City, Utah

1. The meeting was called to order by President Bob Markham at 2000 hours, with 92 memberspresent.

2. Chaplain Jon Drury gave the invocation.

3. Election of officers: There were no nominations from the floor, so the ballot was approved byacclamation: President Bob Markham, Vice President Peter Bird, Treasurer Jim Collier, SecretaryWayne Delawter, and Board Members at large; Al Cunliffe, Kelly Grissom and Terry Obermiller. At asubsequent meeting of the new Board, Al Cunliffe was elected Chairman of the Board.

4. The minutes from the 2004 meeting, as posted on the web site were approved.

5. Financial report was given by Treasurer Bob Dugan. Motion and second to approve was passed.

6. Past COB Jim Collier gave a summary report on Board action items and the purchase of Cariboumerchandise.

7. New business: a motion was made by Jim Davis, 537th to honor members who served in WWII.The motion was seconded and passed. Bob Cooper 458th, Bob Davis 457th, Joe Faulkner 535th, MiltGolart 457th and Herb Holdner 537th stood too accept a rousing applause. Pictures will be postedon the web page shortly.

8. President Bob Markham announced that the daughter of Capt. Wayne Bundy 537th was attendingas the guest of honor. Wayne was lost on 3 Oct 1968.

9. Motion to adjourn at 2028, seconded and passed.

10.Chaplain Bob Davis gave the benediction.

C-7A Caribou AssociationFor the SecretaryJim Collier Treasurer

quent updates.He completed a survey of the Ogden site for the re-

union and coordinated the dedication with the Hill Mu-seum. He has attended The Reunion Network Comfamsat Kalamazoo, MI, Buena Park, CA and DuPage County,IL as potential reunion sites, all on his own dime.

He has done more to advance the prestige of the Asso-ciation than anyone except Nick Evanish.

It is therefore moved that Bob be awarded HonoraryLifetime Membership status, such award to be presentedat the Salt Lake City reunion.

C-7A Caribou AssociationBoard of Directors

Bob Markham Awarded Lifetime Member Status


October 2004 and my wife Maeand I had just returned from our firstC-7A Caribou Association Reunionwhich was held in Odessa, Texas. Wereally had a great time meeting manynew friends and for me rememberingthe year that I had spent as a memberof the 535th Tactical Airlift Squad-ron in Vietnam. I had arrived atVaung Tau in March of 1970 and, af-ter about 3 months there, our squad-ron was moved to Cam Ranh where Icompleted my year and returned toan assignment at Kelly AFB, TX inMarch of 1971.

I had met Jim Collier at Odessaand spoke with him several timesabout the Association and the factthat the 535th was not very well rep-resented at the reunion. Mae and Iwere really enjoying ourselves and Isigned up to attend the 2005 Reunionto be held in Salt Lake City. I wassurprised to receive an e-mail fromJim a few days after we returned ask-ing if I would accept the position of535th Squadron Rep. After receivingassurances that he would help me getstarted and would send me a copy ofthe Standard Operating Proceduresfor the position, I accepted. Mae wasalso very supportive and reallywanted me to get involved. I had pur-chased a copy of the complete asso-ciation roster at the Odessa reunionand Jim started sending me updateinformation and a monthly updatedroster for the 535th Squadron. I alsoreceived several e -mails from otherSquadron Reps with offers of help.My problem was to get organizedwith all of the data and then deter-mine how I could best represent the535th Squadron.

Of the approximate 190 memberslisted on the 535th roster there weremailing address, phone and e-maildata on just over 120 with just namesfor the remainder. Also fewer thanhalf of the roster was current with

their Caribou Tax. I decided to tacklethe problem head on by just callingeveryone on the 535th roster with alisted telephone number to verify theroster information, urge attendance atthe Salt Lake City Reunion and toremind those behind in Caribou Taxwhere to send their payments. On twoweekends at the end of February andbeginning of March I called all of thenumbers listed on the 535th roster.My free weekend cell phone callspaid off handsomely and it was myprivilege to talk with so many newfriends about the experiences that wehad in Viet Nam. I also e-mailed Jimwith updated roster information onwell over 60 of the 535th roster list-ing. I plan to call everyone again priorto our 2006 reunion in TN.

I set up my address list and sentmy first e-mail updates to 101 squad-ron members on June 5th and June

Bill Buesking, New537th Representative

6th. I can now report that all of thee-mail addresses listed for the 535thSquadron members at our WEB siteare correct and up to date. Also myrequest for information on missing535th comrades generated many re-sponses and with additional data likea middle initial or a state of residenceI was able to locate five squadronmembers. A great beginning for thetask of contacting our missing com-rades in the 535th. I plan to send pe-riodic e-mail updates with informa-tion on our search status and hope tosee many more 535th Squadron mem-bers at our 2006 reunion in TN.

I live at 18520 Rustling Ridgein San Antonio, TX 78259. Phonenumbers 210 403-2635 and cell 210240-0354. E-mail [email protected]. I welcome any con-tacts if anyone wants to call or e-mail.

Bill Buesking [535th, 70]

Not All Efforts Prove FutileAfter the January 2005 issue of the newsletter was deposited at

the post office there seemed to be an unusually long delay before Ireceived my copy in the mail – I normally receive it in a couple ofdays. I checked with a few members and they had not received theirnewsletters either.

I became worried that something had gone wrong – probably anerror in the process of transferring our membership roster into theaddressing software used to print the labels on the newsletters. I urgedthe company that does our addressing and mailing to reconfirm thatthe addressing process was completed successfully. They assured methat everything was done properly. I then suspected that the problemwas at the post office. I wrote a letter to the postmaster complainingabout the delivery delays and requesting a refund of the postage. Themailing company also wrote a letter to protest the delay and requesteda refund of the postage.Results: The postmaster replied with a letter stating that the refundneither confirmed nor denied that the post office was in error, nordid the refund obligate the postmaster to grant future requests forrefunds.Guess What. The association received a postage refund checkfor $185.07.Dave Hutchens, Editor

A follow up on the delayed delivery times of the January newsletter


wondering if it was worth it. I hadthought about his family over theyears, had looked him up in the bookat the Wall and had touched his nameand the names of other C-7 crewmenwhose names were near his on theWall. I had wanted to learn about andwrite about the operations in Cam-bodia and the evacuations of Ba Kevand Boung Long in 1970. My inter-est was personal. My aircraft hadcome back with the wheel well amess. Pieces of human remains wereall over the nose of the plane and thecrew told me that the propeller hadhit a refugee. I assumed that he hadwalked into the prop. We finallyhosed down the nose and wheel welland got it all cleaned up. Later oneof our pilots earned a Silver Star pull-ing out the “Tailpipe” team—USAFcombat controllers—who had workedthe mission. At the reunion I met BobDavis and Rene Canuel who flewthose missions. Bob had been theMission Commander at Boung Long.Back at Cam Ranh, we also heardabout a woman throwing her babyinto the plane. Rene was on that air-craft and remembered the incident. Itold Bob Davis that I had wonderedabout those things for the past thirtyyears and he simply said, “Now youknow.”

The next day we went to the dedi-cation. I met Jim Davis and his wifeon the bus and we talked about NewJersey and McGuire AFB. I was sta-tioned there after Vietnam and oneof my best friends was from TomsRiver. We talked about New Jerseyand the pine barrens. One of the un-expected things that have happenedat the reunions is the “non-Caribou”reconnections. Time flows throughpeople and places and machines andthe Association reconnects us in waysthat surprise and delight us. The read-ing of the names and the ringing ofthe bell was solemn and broughtsome closure to me. Going aboard theCaribou brought back old thoughts

and feelings and, in a clear way, re-connected me to my youth. As manyothers stated, it was smaller than Iremembered.

Having Hillary Bundy Karsten atthe dedication was especially won-derful. I sat with her for a few min-utes after the banquet and we talked.She said that it had been an emotionalexperience with great highs and lows.I hadn’t known her father but manyof the attendees had known him andshe also got closure and was sur-prised at the camaraderie among us.It was a great pleasure to meet andtalk with her.

As I left the reunion, I thoughtabout the many other reconnections.Meeting Al Cunliffe and remember-ing an airport and people from fortyyears ago. Seeing the pictures ofShepard AFB and remembering TechSchool with two other maintainers.Meeting people I had e-mailed andsharing memories and feelings. I willbe back to learn more at the next re-union.

Blaylock from page 1

to crew the plane under Sgt. BillBickley and took over as crewchiefin February 1968 when Bill rotatedback to the World. Kelly, with hisbuddy Don Jackson, left Vietnam at0000 hrs on 28 November 1968 forMcCord AFB and the World.

On 6 December 1968 Kelly mar-ried the love of his life, SusanVenable, just eight days after return-ing back to the states.They were thenstationed at Whiteman AFB at KnobNoster, Missouri. He was assigned tothe 351st CAMS Job Control. He fin-ished his enlistment there and washonorably discharged on 23 April1971.

After the Air Force, Kelly movedhis family back to Texas and went towork for his father in Odessa. Their

business sold in 1980, so he took acouple of years off and moved tosouth Texas and earned a BS from theUniversity of Houston. After gradu-ating he developed an RV camp-ground in Edna, Texas. In 1985 hewent to work for Texas Parks andWildlife Department and is currentlystationed in Goliad, Texas.

Susi has a pre-school and day carecenter in Edna, Texas that she startedin 1985 and is today teaching the chil-dren of the children that have gonethrough her school. These childrenare her “OPUS”. They have threechildren, Angelia, Jennifer and Mat-thew, and six grandsons.

His plans are to work for aboutfour more years and then retiring towork on his hobby of model trains—play with the boys, travel, golf andjust have fun—

Kelly is very happy that he is ableto serve the association and he feelshonored to be selected as a boardmember. He extends an open invita-tion for anyone to call on him at any-time with any question on any asso-ciation matter.

Grissom from page 1

ment assignment policy for over2,700 pilot and navigator positions in28 Major Weapon Systems and Train-ers at 22 flying training wings/units,6,000 support officers in 28 careerfields, as well as, 900 special dutyassignments. Oddly enough, this jobis very similar to one I had at the AirForce Manpower and Personnel Cen-ter (AFMPC) while on active duty inthe early 1980s. You may be surprisedto know that not much has changedin the assignment process over theyears. We still send people to placesthey don’t want to go and have toexplain why!

For the record, I was commis-sioned as a second lieutenant through

Obie from page 1

Continued on page 6


Reunion Newsthe AFROTC program upon gradua-tion from Texas Christian Universityin May 1967 and attended pilot train-ing at Webb AFB, TX, graduating inJune 1968. Following numerous op-erational flying and staff assign-ments, I retired from the USAF inJuly 1997 having achieved commandpilot status with over 4,000 hours offlying time, including more than 500combat hours.

I was fortunate to have flown andbeen qualified in six military andfive civilian aircraft during my mili-tary service. Along the way, I had atour with the Army flying the 0-2A,the C-130E and C-12 aircraft, as wellas my first assignment out of pilottraining in the “Bou”. In betweenthere were three tours as a T-38 In-structor Pilot at Reese and ShepardAFBs, TX, and Williams AFB, AZ.Those “Trainer” years were probablymy most gratifying airborne time,having first time soloed countlessstudents in the jet, as well as, in twoand four-ship formation. My liquorcabinet was never empty duringthose years!

I had my share of “flying a desk”as well, serving as a Personnel Of-ficer at AFMPC, a War and Contin-gency Planner in J-5 at HQ U.S. Eu-ropean Command in Stuttgart Ger-many, and finally as the U. S. De-fense and Air Attaché to Bolivia.

In total, the Air Force was verygood to Candy and me, and wewould not have changed a thing dur-ing our period of service. We lookforward to retiring to the Hill Coun-try at our Ranch in Llano, Texas,hopefully sometime within the nexttwo years, where I will spend mostof my time hunting and fishing andawaiting visits from our three sonsand seven grandchildren. Thanksagain for electing me as a Boardmember, as I look forward to serv-

From the Keyboard ofthe President.

As you all know we just finishedour 2nd Dedication, to honor our thirtynine fallen crew members that werekilled in Vietnam. This Dedicationwas held at Hill AFB Utah, on May14th, 2005. The first dedication oc-curred at Dyess A.F.B., Texas onMarch 13, 2002. I felt honored beingpart of this overall event.

I would like to enlighten some ofthe members of the association thatwere unable to attend this dedication.This is the way I saw it from the be-ginning and it’s my story.(I know I’llget some letters or telephone callsabout this),

During our 12th reunion held in LasVegas, Nevada on September 4th

2001, Jerry York made a motion forthe association to pay for the repaint-ing of the C-7A Caribou serial num-ber 63-9757 that was assigned to the537th TAS at Phu Cat Vietnam, nowon display at the Hill AFB Museum.The motion was tabeled, and laterdisapproved by the board. It wouldhave set precedence for the associa-tion to support the other museumswith C-7A Caribou airplanes dis-played. During our 14th reunion inCharleston South Carolina on No-vember 5, 2003 George Harmontalked to a few of the 537th crewmembers that flew 63-9757 about thedisrepair of aircraft 757. Georgestarted a donation program to raisethe funds needed to have Hill AFBMuseum repaint, and repair the air-plane. With a total of 42 donors,George raised all the needed funds.

At the 15th reunion in OdessaTexas a vote was made to have a dedi-cation and reunion in the month ofMay 2005. That started the ball roll-ing.

Jim Collier and I volunteered ashosts for a combination reunion and

dedication. Betty and Jim Collier andI met with the Aerospace HeritageFoundation of Utah Chairman Lt.General Marc Reynolds and his staff.After reviewing the pictures from theDyess AFB dedication, they approvedour planning for a dedication.

With your board’s approval weordered the plaque and monument.George picked the dedication dateand time of May14, 2005 10AM. Jimbooked the transportation, hotel, re-ception, and banquet, while I ar-ranged the dedication at the museumand the luncheon at the club.

This dedication was another Cari-bou Association’s finest hour. I’mproud of ALL the people that madethis day possible.

Bob MarkhamPresidentC-7A Caribou Association

A Plane And Its CrewSunday, May 15, 2005

By Amy K. StewartStandard-Examiner staffHill’s museum remembers the C-7 Cari-bou, and honors the 39 Vietnam vets whodied flying her.

HILL AIR FORCE BASE — Thefat, shiny green cargo plane at HillAir Force Base’s aerospace museumis to serve as a memorial for Vietnamveterans, but also as an educationaltool for the public. Sporting a freshcoat of paint, the refurbished C-7Caribou airplane was the center ofattention at a dedication ceremony onSaturday. “She reminds us of experi-ences and memories we hold in thedeepest part of our hearts,” said guestspeaker chaplain George “Sonny”Spurger, of Lancaster, Texas. He wasa pilot in Vietnam. Saturday’s unveil-ing also honored 39 crewmen whodied while engaged in C-7 Vietnamcombat missions from 1966 to 1972.

Continued from page 5


Each veteran’s name was read, fol-lowed by the chime of a bell, whileabout 300 people welcomed the re-stored Caribou to its now-permanentlanding spot at the museum. The C-7has been at Hill Air Force Base’smuseum since 1991 but was begin-ning to show signs of disrepair. “Itneeded some tender loving care,” saidmuseum curator Tom Hill . Theaircraft’s $6,000 makeover wasfunded by donations from the C-7Caribou Association. The project wasspearheaded by Vietnam veteranGeorge Harmon, who saw the planewhile visiting family in Ogden twoyears ago. “I realized I had flown thatairplane in Vietnam, in 1969,” saidHarmon, 60, of Temecula, Calif. InMarch, with funding in place, Hillpersonnel repainted and restored theaircraft to its original wartime con-dition. The plane is 72 feet long and31 feet high, with a 96-foot wingspan.It weighs 16,850 pounds empty and49,200 pounds loaded. The aircraftwas built to transport supplies anduse unprepared runways as short as1,000 feet. It carried everything: am-munition, food, water, live animals,evacuees, the wounded and dead bod-ies. Saturday’s dedication ceremonywas the finale of a three-day annualconference of the C-7 Caribou Asso-ciation. The event rotates to a differ-ent city each year. Hillary BundyKarston, 39, of Littleton, Colo.,doesn’t remember her father, Viet-nam veteran pilot Wayne P. Bundy.He went off to war when Karston wasalmost 3 years old and didn’t comeback. He was one of the 39 peoplehonored Saturday. Bundy’s comradesdidn’t hesitate to tell Karston abouther dad, and show her photos duringthe three days of the conference. “Itwas very emotional, very overwhelm-ing for me,” said Karston, as she pre-pared to board the plane her fatherhad once flown. For one day only,Saturday, the public was allowed toenter the cargo doors and tour theCaribou. The public will have an-

other chance to enter this aircraft and25 others during a special event onSept. 24. Harmon said this week’sceremony and conference served asa positive experience, bringing backgood memories for him and otherVietnam veterans. “We were youngand having a good time,” he said.“We believed in what we were do-ing.” “War is not all fun. You losepeople. That’s the bad part. But wedon’t dwell on it,” Harmon said. “Werespect them, but we still get togetherand have a good time.”

C-7B CARIBOUCOMES HOME

HERITAGE HERALD, Hill AFB,Aerospace Heritage Foundation of Utah

Spring 2005The Museum’s C-7B, S/N 63-9757,was origi-nally manufactured as aCV-2B and delivered to the U.S.Army on 29 January 1965 by DeHavilland Aircraft of Canada. Ltd.,in Toronto, Ontario. It was trans-ferred to the U.S. Air Force on 31December 1966 from the Army’s 17thAviation Company at Phu Cat AFB,South Vietnam. In January 1967 itwas assigned to the 483rd Troop Car-rier Wing (Medium) of the Pacific AirForces, headquartered at Cam RanhBay AB, South Vietnam, but it re-mained at Phu Cat with the 537thTactical Airlift Squadron. One yearlater the 483rd TCW became the483rd Tactical Airlift Wing.

While with the 537th TAS the air-craft was used to airdrop supplies tovarious ground units in forward ar-eas. On one such air-supply missionto the besieged Special Forces campat Dak Seang just outside Pleiku,three C-7s were shot down and allcrew members aboard were lost. Thisaircraft returned from that missionwith no damage or injuries.

The plane was sent to the Sacra-mento Air Materiel Area atMcClellan AFB, California, in Sep-

tember 1971. It then traveled to theWarner-Robins AMA in Georgiathree months later. In May 1972 itwas assigned to the 908th TacticalAirlift Group of the USAF Reserveat Maxwell AFB, Alabama.

Then in September 1977 it wasmoved to the 357th Tactical AirliftSquadron, USAF Reserve, at Max-well. It was dropped from the AirForce inventory In October 1983 bytransfer back to the U.S. Army.

In November 1983 this aircraftwas received by the Utah Army Na-tional Guard in West Jordan, Utah. Itwas later assigned to the Utah StateArea Command. On 23 August 1991the plane was flown to Hill AFB fromthe 211th Aviation Group of the U.S.Army Reserve in Salt Lake City. Sixdays later the aircraft was acceptedby Hill Aerospace Museum for staticexhibit.

In March 2005 the aircraft was re-painted to match its appearance whileflying with the 537th Tactical AirliftSquadron in Vietnam. This projectwas funded by the C-7 Caribou As-sociation and the Aerospace HeritageFoundation of Utah. The painting wasdone on base by the professionals inthe C-130 Paint Shop and the aircraftwas restored by the 419th CLSS. Themuseum and Foundation would liketo thank everyone involved in mak-ing this project such a success. Mu-seum volunteers are now restoringthe interior of the aircraft.

Dave,Just a note about my flight

home from the reunion. I flewDelta to Phily. As I got off the air-craft, the pilot calls out “Hey,Caribou.” I stepped to the side andtold him about the reunion and thededication service. As it turns outthe pilot told me he flew the Bouinto Hill AFB on her lastflight. Small world…

Paul Phillips [459, 68]


About the dedication services...Dave Hutchens, EditorI want to say just a few words about our reunion and dedication services. Bob Blaylock has written about his recollections of the reunionand dedication. Bob Markham has given us a very good account of his activities and involvement in preparing for the services. We havean article written by the Hill AFB Museum and also an article from the Salt Lake City newspaper, the Standard-Examiner. So the eventhas been well covered. But I feel that these descriptions would not be complete if we could not somehow feel the poignancy of the event,the moment.Chaplain Sonny Spurger did just that when he addressed the gathering of members and friends with a slightly humorous, yet solemnmessage that touched our hearts and truly stirred the emotions of nearly everyone present. There was more than one moist eye noticedduring his address. But Sonny said what needed to be said – he spoke for all of us – and he put the whole event into perspective thateveryone felt and understood. The following is his address:

CARIBOU 757The Dedication, 14 may 05

INTRODUCTION:

Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for the honor of saying a few words this morning. I don’t say that lightly. Inmy experience, the things that honor us most are the things that come from the folks we respect the most. I knowwho you are and where you’ve been and what you’ve done. And I deeply respect you. So, your invitation to speakis truly an honor for me.

Old 757 Has Had Quite a Journey:She was construction # 220 from de Havilland.First accepted by the U.S. Army on 1/29/1965 and assigned to the 17th Aviation Company.On 1/1/67 She was transferred to the USAF and assigned to the 537th TAS Sq with tail code “KN”.In 1972 she was assigned to the 357th TAS of the 908th TAG of the 94th TAW (AFRES) with tail code “IM”1981 returned to the Army.November 1983 she was assigned to the 19th SF Group of the UT ARNG..In 1991 she was assigned to the Utah State Area Command.In 1992 she was flown to Hill AFB, UT and delivered to the Hill Aerospace Museum.In 2004 she was rediscovered by George Harmon, who with a little help from his friends, has helped herhave an “Extreme Makeover”. Today she looks better than most of us do.

There is a saying in my part of the country, “Been there, done that, got the T Shirt”.Meaning: “I’ve had that experience.” “I understand that.”

Those who share the same experiences are often called “peers”. Peers know each other. They speak the samelanguage. They are bound together by what they have shared and what they hold in common.

My first wing commander was Col. Jim Jabara. He had been an Ace in WWII and was the Free World’s first JetAce in an F-86 in Korea. After his 5th kill in Korea he was brought back to the US to go on a Public Relations Tour.He said that at one gathering he looked at the men in the front two rows and realized that there were a number ofWWII German pilots in the group, many of whom had more combat hours and more kills than he did. He steppedaway from the podium, sat on the front of the stage, and they just shared war stories! They were “peers”. And as helater said, “No one knows like someone who has been there.”


These we honor today are our peers. We were all there. We are forever bonded by those experiences and memoriesshared in Southeast Asia that most of the world will never know and certainly can’t understand. You just had to bethere.

One of my military heroes was General “Chappie” James, the first African American Four Star General in the AirForce. He spoke at the dining-in for my graduation from pilot training. He had just been awarded his second GeorgeWashington Freedom Foundation Award for Patriotism. He spoke to us as young men at a time when there wassocial unrest everywhere, demonstrations on campuses, and lots of folks looking for ways to make it to Canada. Hemade a remark in his speech to us that night that has stayed with me through the years. He said, “We will have tocarry those folks on our backs. For this is our country. When she is well, we will rejoice with her. And whenshe is sick, we will hold her hand. And when she needs defending, we will be there.” And this group of “peers”was.

There is a camaraderie formed in times of conflict and combat that makes us brothers in a unique way and spans theyears since that time with undiminished commitment and affection. For us in particular, we are bound together byboth a war and an airplane.

The Latin Motto on the patch of the 537th, “Gesta Non Verba”, translates to “Deeds not Words”. And certainlythose we remember at this dedication will always be remembered for their “deeds”, not what they said about whatthey believed, but what they did about what they believed. Scripture reminds us that “Greater love has no manthan this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” And laying down your life is the ultimate deed.

I would like to suggest that there is another peer here this morning. Aircraft 757 has also, “Been there, done that,and got her brand new T shirt”. Today, she represents all those “Bous” we flew, or crewed, or worked on. Shereminds us of experiences and memories we hold in the deepest part of our hearts.

Take a moment and think back to your most memorable experience with a Caribou. It could have been the first timeyou saw one. It might have been ferrying one across the Pacific. It might have been an air drop over Ben Het orDak Seang. It might have been a flight across the delta during Monsoon season. It could have been that first Type Ilanding on some patch of dirt the size of your backyard. It could have even been that beautiful afternoon when youfinally found out that she could do a pretty good lazy 8. Whatever it was, the Bou was there, shared it, and is a peer.

So, I would like for us to issue a charge of honor, Peer to Peer, for Aircraft 757.

(Would those of you who flew the Bou, crewed her, or worked on her please stand with me?)

Would you join me in charging 757 with the honor and responsibility to stand vigil over the memories of ourcomrades and the memories of our experiences? Would you assist me by paying our respects to our peers?

(Please face the plaque and aircraft)

ATTENTIONPRESENT ARMSORDER ARMSAT EASE (Please be seated)

May these “peers” of ours, both those whose names are on the plaque and this aircraft that we have just commis-sioned to stand watch, be a reminder to all those who visit this place, that Freedom Is Never Free!

May God bless you, and all your memories, and all our peers, and the United States of America


Reunion 2005 AttendeessAubray & Judy Abrams, GAMax & Shirley Allison, WIFrancisco Archibeque, MS*Jack Artman,James Bailey, VAAlvin & Audrea Balak, CA*Ron Barrett*Andy & Joyce BellucciWilliam Berta, AZRobert Blaylock, KYBrian Bowen, FLBob & Evelyn Bowers, OHRichard & Marilyn Brethouwer, FLPatrick & Lesley Brooks, TNWilliam & Ella Mae Buesking, TXRichard & Susan Bunting, CAWayne Buser, CARene Canuel, CAKenneth & Venita Christman, MDDuane & Judith Cocking, WAJim & Betty Collier, CATom & Chantell Collins, NJBill Combest, CARobert Cooper & Mary Furrie, TXJohn & Nadine Craig, OKAl & Shirley Cunliffe, ALDon & Dorothy Dana, UT*Shelia DarsowRobert & Georgia Davis, FLJim & Dot Davis, NJJon Drury, CABob & Pat Dugan, TXBill & Edeltraud Duvall, WAJim & Joanne Fairweather, MNStoney & Melva Faubus, CAJim Furlong, WAJerry Garner, CA

Rick Patterson, VAJohn Pentecost, IDPaul Peoples, MIWilliam Perry, CAWilson & Betty Petefish, TXJohn Pfanner, ORPaul & Christine Phillips, PATerrell Presley, GABilly Quinn, IDMichael Riess, MNRussell Riggleman, VAHermon Rios, HIAllan Rodda, CAKeith Ryland, ALLarry & Lee Schiff, PAAllen & Karen Shanahan, AZRobert & Wynell Slade, FLJerry & Carolyn Smith, COJerry Smolinski, LASonny & Cindy Spurger, TXJene & Myra Stewart, CAJames Strickland, TXDavid Sutton, TXRay Tanner, NVJohn & Fran Tawes, GACurry & Nancy Taylor, AZ*Allison TaylorDon & Sue Tippetts, UTCharlie Tost, CAWayne Tuck, NJBill Vondersmith, GABud & Gloria, Beidman, NMClyde & Judith Wilson, CAHugh Wilson, MSRoger Woodbury, ILFrank Woznicki, NYJerry & Nancy York, WYDan & Arlene Yost, CA

Milton Golart, ORJoe & Sandy Graetch, CAWilliam Grant, COKelly & Susan Grissom, TXTed & Cathy Hanchett, COGeorge, Rebekah, Dan & Carolyn

Harmon, CA*Gary & Cathy HarrisJames Hathcoat, KS*Keith & J.Maire HayesMartin Hillman, WAHerb Holdener, AZWilliam Horky, NVDave & Jill Hutchens, OKDon & Susan Jackson, FLLoyd & Nancy Jenny, WA*Hillary Bundy Karsten, COKenneth Kimseu, CATom & Olga Koza, MAJim & Sandra Laney, CO*Bill LovernBill & BJ Manire, NEBob Markham, CAJuan Martinez & Sandra Hill, OKLarry Martwig, TXJim & Marcia McDonald, NCTom & Barb McHugh, OHJohn Mood, HIGeorge Moore, LAMike Murphy, MORobert & Iola Neumayer, COTom & Cheryl Neutzling, CAChris & Eileen Nevins, NHLarry & Kristen Nilssen, UTTerry Obermiller, TX*Jim & Steve ObermillerKen Pacholka, MIJames & Alice Parmelee, CO*Niesn Parmelee

Air Force is the smartest of all thebranches

Of all the Services, the Air Force has the most intelli-gent enlisted people!

Take the Army. When the stuff hits the fan, the youngArmy private wakes up to the bellowing of his First Ser-geant. He grabs his BDUs out of his foot locker, dresses,runs to the chow-hall for breakfast on the fly, then jumpsin his tank. Pretty soon, the company commander, a cap-tain, arrives, gives him a big salute, and says, “Give ‘emHell, soldier!”

Now take the Navy. When the stuff hits the fan, the

young Sailor is eating breakfast in the mess. He hustlesthe 20 feet to his battle station, stuffing extra pastries inhis pocket as he goes. There he sits, in the middle of abig, steel target, with nowhere to run, when the Captaincomes on the 1MC and says, ”Give ‘em Hell, Sailors! Isalute you!”

Now take the Marines. When the stuff hits the fan, theyoung Marine is kicked out of bed by his First Sergeantand puts on the muddy set of BDUs he was wearing onthe field exercise he was part of three hours earlier. Hegets no breakfast, but is told to feel free to chew on hisboots. He runs out and forms up with his rifle. Pretty soon,his company commander, a captain, comes out, gives the

* indicates a guest of the previous member


Here are the statistics on the 2004 reunion: Odessaevidently was a good draw to get this many membersout.

Total number of members and guests: 176Members 102Guests 72First Time Attendees 15FOA (Friends of Associaiton) 2

Members by organization:4449 - 1 458 - 8 483 - 1 536 - 9457 - 7 459 -18 535 -12 537 - 4518th AOD - 1 AFAT-2 - 1

Members by year in country:1963-1 1967- 18 1970- 71964-1 1968- 30 1971- 21966-16 1969- 27

Reunion DemographicsMembers by State:

AL- 2 HI-2 MD-1 NE-1 OH-2 UT-3AZ-4 ID-2 MI-3 NH-1 OK-3 VA-3CA-20 IL-1 MN-2 NJ-3 OR-2 WA-5CO-7 KS-1 MO-1 NM-1 PA-2 WI-1FL-5 KY-1 MS-2 NV-2 TN-1 WY-1GA-4 MA-1 NC-1 NY-1 TX-10Numbers for the past four years are:

Members Guests TotalTucson 1999 84 55 139College Park 2000 58 36 94Las Vegas 2001 100 61 161St. Louis 2002 78 54 132Charleston 2003 110 83 193Odessa 2004 120 87 207Salt Lake City 2005 104 72 176

First Time Members (FNG’s)2001 19 2004 452002 28 2005 152003 39

Heads Up for 2006 Caribou Re-union

The 2006 Caribou Reunion will be April 9th thru 13th,2006. This is a beautiful and comfortable time of theyear in East TN. This year the temperatures were in the80s on the 9th & 10th, in the 60s on 11th — 13th withrain on the 12th. Our “Command Post” reunion hotel isthe Music Road Hotel & Convention Centerwww.musicroadhotel.com/. If you thought the hotel inOdessa was something, you will really be impressed withMusic Road. This hotel is only a couple years old andthe most elegant we’ve stayed in yet. The incredible thingabout this is the $66 per night room fee. Those makingearly reservations may be able to get rooms with Jacuzzisor fireplaces.

Pigeon Forge is at the foot of the Smoky Mountains— less than 10 miles to the Great Smoky MountainsNational Park entrance, 7 miles to Gatlinburg and 2 miles

from Dolly Parton’s Dollywood and within blocks ofmany popular venues like the Louise Mandrel Theaterand the Black Bear Jamboree, we will be in the middleof where to be in East Tennessee.

Dollywood, www.dollywood.com/ will be featuring itsFestival of Nations while we are there. The Festival ofNations shows are the main reason we will be havingour reunion in April. They are adult oriented but there isplenty for the grandkids to do it you want to bring themalong. For a sharply reduced group admission price wewill be able to view the premier shows from other na-tions around the world. In 2005 the Moscow Circus andChina’s Dragon Legend Acrobats top the billing but thereare entertainers from Czech Republic, Serbia, Zambia,Trinidad, Ecuador, Germany and Italy. Next year’s en-tertainment will be similar.

There are 2 excellent aviation museums in the area.Wayne DelawterChief reunion Planner

Marine a sharp salute, and says, “Give ‘em Hell, Ma-rine!”

And then there’s the UNITED STATES AIR FORCE.When the stuff REALLY hits the fan, the Airman re-ceives a phone call at his off-base quarters. He gets up,showers, shaves, and puts on the fresh uniform he pickedup from the BX cleaners the day before. He jumps in hiscar and cruises through the McDonalds drive-thru for an

Egg McMuffin and Coca-Cola on his way into work.Once at work, he signs in on the duty roster. He pro-ceeds to his F-15, spends 30 minutes pre-flighting it,and signs off the forms. Pretty soon the pilot, a youngcaptain arrives, straps into the jet, and starts the en-gines. Our young Airman stands at attention, gives theaviator a sharp salute, and says, “Give ‘em Hell, Cap-tain!”


Director of Logistics for the 19th AirDivision, a position he held until re-tirement 1 March 1977.

During over thirty-four years ofactive service he accumulated over6000 hours of pilot time in twenty-five different aircraft models andflew over 200 combat missions inthree wars. He holds the Legion ofMerit with one Oak Leaf Cluster, theDistinguished Flying Cross, BronzeStar with one Oak Leaf Cluster, theAir Medal with six Oak Leaf Clus-ters, the Air Force CommendationMedal with one Oak Leaf Cluster and18 other medals, decorations, ribbonsand Presidential Unit Citations. Twoyears after retirement he started awindow and door business in Ft.Worth which was successful, but hehas tapered it off to very little busi-ness at the present. Jean died on Oct.22, 1987. Their two sons and threegrandchildren live in California andBob has managed to spend Christmaswith them the past several years.

Bob has had a few close calls, asmost pilots have, and has been “shotat” with live ammunition on most ofhis combat missions, but the mostharrowing experience was ridingthrough and walking away from amajor aircraft crash of a C-7A atCenterville, TN in March 1967. Thatwas a major catastrophe but he waslucky enough to have survived it.(Bob has told me part of the story of thecrash of the C-7A. I’m trying to get him togive us the whole story. It is a Lu-Lu.Ed.)

on 2 June 1946.He was discharged as a captain

January 1947 and re-enlisted asMSgt. in February 1947. He attendedAirplane and Engine MechanicsSchool and Aircraft Electrical Spe-cialist School. He was a crew chiefon C-54 aircraft at Brookly AFB,Mobile, AL. His son, Van, was bornthere during November 1947. Bobwas recalled to commissioned statusin late 1948 as a B-29 pilot, 43rdBomb Wing at Davis Monthan AFB,AZ.

In 1952 he moved to Japan for theKorean War flying B-29’s and latermoved to Forbes AFB, KS, 55th StratRecon Wing where he flew RB-47’s.This assignment lasted approxi-mately 2 1/2 years. He was then as-signed to 15th AF, March AFB, CA,May 1955. He was promoted to ma-jor April 1957 and moved to YokotaAB, Japan, assigned to 67th Tac Re-con Wing as Field Maintenance Su-pervisor. This tour was especiallyenjoyable for the family with a maid,houseboy, gardener, and seamstress.

Bob received a Regular AF Com-mission in 1958. He returned to theU.S. in June 1960 to Minot AFB, ND,attended B-52 Advanced Pilot Train-ing at Castle AFB, CA in the periodNovember 1960 - April 1961. He de-parted Minot for an assignment at HQSAC, Offutt in Nov. 1964 and waspromoted to LTC in May 1965. Hewent to Viet Nam June 1967 andflew a tour in C-7A “Caribou. He re-turned to Carswell as Sq. Co. of 7thOMS in June 1968 and was promotedto Colonel in Aug. 1968. He movedin as Deputy Commander for Main-tenance and went TDY with the 7thBomb to Guam in October 1969. Hereturned to Carswell in April 1970and moved to Blytheville AFB, AKas Vice Wing Commander of the 97thBomb Wing. His next move was toHQ SAC as Director of LogisticsPlans in Nov. 1970. This assignmentlasted until January 1974 when hewas moved to Carswell AFB, TX as

COLONELROBERT W. COOPER

Bob was born in Republic County,Kansas, raised on a farm in the same

area andgraduatedf r o mBellevi l leH i g hSchool. In1942 he en-listed as aprivate inthe U.S.Army, ap-

plied for pilot training and enteredtraining in the central Flying Train-ing Command in July 1943 at San An-tonio, Texas. He received his wingsat Lubbock, Texas, Class of 44D. Heattended B-24 Advanced Pilot Train-ing at Liberal, Kansas and CombatCrew Training at March Field, Cali-fornia. He and his crew were assignedto the 43rd Bomb Group in the South-west Pacific Area. He then movedfrom Nadzab, New Guinea to OwiIsland, (Leyte), Mindoro, ClarkField, P.I., and was stationed at IeShima at the end of WW II. After re-turning to the U.S. in November1945, he was stationed in California,Texas and Colorado, and marriedJean K. Gilbert in Denver, Colorado

Senior Profiles“Senior Profiles” is an attempt to recog-nize our senior members that have servicedating back to World War II. At the presentwe have identified six members that belongto this group: Bob Cooper, Bob Davis, JoeFaulkner, Milt Golart, Herb Holdener andBill Perry. We are looking for others thatwe have not identified so far. Note that wehave not located any sergeants. Please helpus in this effort. So far we only have biog-raphies from Bob Cooper and HerbHoldener. The others will appear in laterissues, I’m sure. You young fellers ought tostrike up some conversations with theseolder, more mature gentlemen and maybeget some real war tales. Their stories arefascinating.Ed.

HERB HOLDENERDave Hutchens asked some of us

old (WWII Types) C7 Associationmembers to write a dissertation onour flying experience and militarycareer. My flying experience will bepretty limited compared to a lot ofyou C-7 Caribou Association BabyBoomers.

Well here goes, I was in college atIowa State College and enlisted in the


Army Aviation Cadet Program inMay 1942. I was not called until Feb-ruary 1943. After basic training, Iwent through pre-flight training inSanta Ana, CA , primary flight train-ing in a Stearman PT-17 in Tulare,CA.(65 Hrs), basic in a BT-15 (20hrs.) and AT-17 (55 hrs) at Lemoore,CA., advanced was at La Junta, CO.in a AT-24 (B-25) for 70 hours. I re-ceived a total of 210 flying hours inCadet Training Program.

After advanced I went toBergstrom Field, TX. (Austin, TX.)for transition training in C-47’s. Weflew a variety of “Gooney Birds”(i.e.:C-47’s C-49’s, C-52’s and C-53’s),flew 149 hours in the program andalso received 8 hours of glider time.Our crew was sent to Baer Field, IN.to pick up a C-47 which we ferriedto Townsville, Australia. I was as-signed to the 403rd Troop CarrierGroup, 64th TCS and I joined them inGuadalcanal on 27 September 1944.We were flying C-47’s and C-46’sand I flew in the South Pacific The-ater from Guadalcanal to the Philip-pines. and returned back to the Statesin November 1945. I had a total 1025flying hours in the Pacific Theater

with 109c o m b a tmissions,625 hoursc o m b a tt i m e(troop car-rier type)and totalf l y i n gtime of

1389 hours.Took some leave time and decided

to stay in the service for another year.During that time I was stationed inTexas and California and flew AT-11’s, C-45’s, C-47’s and B-25’s I wasa flight instructor in the C-47. Dur-ing this time I flew 124 hours and wasdischarged from the Army Air Corpsin October 1946 and joined the Re-serves .

I returned to Iowa State Collegeand graduated with a B.S. Degree inCeramic Engineering in March 1949and took a job in Cleveland. OH. Ijoined the Reserve 433rd Troop Car-rier Group flying C-46’s, T-7’s andT-11’s. We were on our month of ac-tive duty in July 1950 when the Ko-rean War broke out. The Group gotcalled back to active duty in October1950 and was sent to Greenville, SC.to transition into C-119’s We flew T-7’s and T-11’s until the C-119’s ar-rived. I flew 111 hours in Greenvilleand the Group was transferred toRhein Main, Germany in July 1951.Later we were at Neuiberg, Germany.I returned to the States in March 1954and was assigned to the Universityof Illinois and received a MastersDegree in Ceramic Engineering inJune 1955.

My next tour was at Wright-Patterson AFB Dayton, OH. in theMaterials Laboratory in the HighTemperature Materials Section and Iworked on the research and develop-ment of ceramic and graphite mate-rials for military applications. Whileat WPAFB I flew primarily B-25’sand occasionally C-47’s and C-45’s.I flew mostly on weekends.

In January 1959, I was assigned tothe Ballistic Missiles Division, Sys-tems Command, in Los Angeles, CA.I was the Project Officer for devel-opment of the 2nd stage of the Min-uteman Missile System. Again, I flewwhen I could on weekends. We flewU3A’s, C-47’s, SC-47’s and C-118’s.In April 1963 the Air Force estab-lished a program, which took all theEngineering and Technical type pi-lots just flying a minimum amount oftime for flight pay, off of flight sta-tus. We still received flight pay aslong as we passed our yearly physi-cal exam and signed an agreement tobe subject to recall to flight status atany time in accordance with theneeds of the Air Force. I was in thisprogram from April 1963 till June1968. We got the Minuteman Missile

into production and turned it over toSAC in 1962 and it was fully opera-tional in July of 1963.

In May 1963, I went toRennsselaer Polytechnic Institute inTroy, NY and received another Mas-ters Degree in Engineering Manage-ment in June 1964. The next assign-ment was at the Pentagon as StaffOfficer for the Air Force Researchand Development Programs under theauspices of the Systems Command.In July 1968, I was recalled to flightstatus. I had 2966 hours flight timeand started flying again at AndrewsAFB in U3A’s. After attending theSurvival Training Program atFairchild AFB (29 July -7 Aug 1968),I was sent to Sewart AFB, TN. for 68hours of transition training in theC7A. At the end of training, (Oct.1968), an all volunteer crew (Lt. Col.Irwin K. Holdener, Major Morris C.Garrison, Capt. George A. Spurgerand T. SGT. James C. Beach) wentto Robbins AFB, GA. to pick up a C7to ferry to Cam Rahn Bay, Viet Nam.Orders effective on or about 13 Nov.1968. Spurger and myself were as-signed to the 537th TAS. By date ofrank, I became the Operations Officerreplacing Lt. Col. Richardson. Count-ing the ferry flight time and the 537th

flight time I had a total 832 hours fly-ing time in SEA Total time of 4092hours with 1649 hours of combat time(troop carrier type).

After my tour in SEA, I was as-signed to the Space and Missiles Sys-tems Organization (SAMSO) in LosAngeles, CA. in Dec.1969. I was incharge of the Engineering Office re-sponsible for modifying the Air ForceAtlas Missiles in storage in San Di-ego, CA. to NASA specifications.They were used as 1st stage boostersfor specific space flights. I retiredfrom the Air Force in June 1972.


My RecollectionsEmergency Evacuationof Cambodian Refugees

by the 483rd Tactical AirliftWing, SVN 22-23 June 1970

Robert A. Davis [457, 69]These recollections are being re-

corded during 2004. They have beenreinforced by references to my per-sonal notes of the missions flownduring my tour of duty with the 483rdTactical Airlift Wing, Cam Rahn Bay,SVN, October 1969- October 1970.I have also made frequent referral tomy Form 5, which is the Air ForcePilots Individual Flight Records, ofaccumulated flying time during mycareer as an Air Force pilot. The Form5 reflects a grand total of 4219.7hours of which 649.3 hours were incombat. The combat hours were 75in Korea (B-29) during 1953, 16.75from Thailand (C-47) during 1966-67 and 557 in SVN (C-7A). My FlightRecord Master File indicates that Ihave recorded flying time in 18 dif-ferent type of airplanes.

My assigned duty in the Wing wasOperations Officer in the 457th Tac-tical Airlift Squadron based at CamRahn Bay. We were flying C-7A Cari-bou aircraft manufactured by deHaviland, of Canada, for the US.Army. There were six squadrons inthe Wing, two at Cam Rahn Bay (457,458), two at Phu Cat (459, 537) andtwo at Vung Tau (535,536).

It was December 1966 when thelast of 144 Caribou aircraft had beentransferred from the Army to the AirForce so that all in-country fixedwing airlift service was consolidatedunder one authority. The transfer ofairplanes was a joint decision be-tween the Chiefs of Staff of the AirForce and Army and approved by theDepartment of Defense.

The aerial lifeline of the SpecialForces camps in Vietnam proved tobe the C-7A Caribou airplane. Theability to land on very short unim-proved strips, capacity for carrying

relatively large loads of many typecargo, the stalwart construction,maintainability and reliability madeit the logical choice for re-supplyingthose boondocks isolated outposts ofthe Special Forces.

The C-7A Caribou, was a high-wing twin engine monoplane, revers-ible propellers with a long upswepttail that permitted using the rear doorcargo loading ramp. The fuselage wasjust over 72 feet long, and wingspanwas just over 95 feet 7 inches. Thevertical fin was over 31 feet high andthe plane had an empty weight ofabout 17,600 pounds. Powered bytwo Pratt & Whitney R-2000 1,400horsepower engines, the Caribou hada cruising speed of 182 mph at 10,000feet and a stall speed of 65 mph whenfully loaded. A favorite with the aircrews who flew them, the C-7A wasa work horse of an airplane that re-ally found a home in Vietnam sup-porting those gallant Special Forcestroops.

My involvement with the refugeeevacuation began with a telephonecall from “Colby”, the 483rd Tacti-cal Airlift Wing Command Post ad-vising that our squadron send an air-craft and crew, with a field grade Air-craft Commander, to Pleiku AB (Svn2-4) for three days. The ALCE, Air-lift Control Element, Commanderwould brief the air crew for the mis-sions to be flown from that location.Since most of the squadrons eligibleAircraft Commanders would be outof crew rest as a result of todays mis-sions, I volunteered to take the mis-sion, with the permission of theSquadron Commander, Lt. ColonelRussell Draper.

While I was preparing for the TDYthe Squadron scheduling Officer,Major Dawson White, rounded up aCopilot,Lt. McGregor and a Load-master/Engineer Msgt. Mathews to

fill out the flight crew. As the air crewmembers were preparing for the sor-tie, the maintenance troops were re-configuring a C-7A Caribou, tailnumber 61-2391, from cargo to a pas-senger carrying capability. Little didwe realize at the time the type andnumbers of passengers to be trans-ported. The flight to Pleiku thatevening was uneventful. There washowever, some organized turmoil andorderly confusion on the tarmac andinside the ALCE.

I was briefed by the ALCE Com-mander that the 834th Air Divisionhad been tasked to evacuate manyhundreds of Cambodian refugeeswho were fleeing from Communistinsurgents. The refugees were gath-ering at two airfield locations in east-ern Cambodia, Bu Kev (East) andBung Lung (West), both of them wereonly about 30 minutes flying timefrom Pleiku.

Initially the Air Division had laidthe evacuation missions on the C-123, “Bookie Birds”, located at PhanRang, SVN. These very sturdy anddependable twin engine aircraft of“Mule Train” fame, could and didtransport many refugees on 22 June1970; however due to their grossweight and single wheel main land-ing gear foot print pressure, the land-ings had deeply rutted the touchdownarea of the latterite surfaced (dirt)runway. As a result Air Division dis-continued the gallant C-123’s partici-pation. The 483rd TAW with theirlighter, dual wheeled aircraft wasthen tasked to continue the rescuemissions in spite of the drasticallyreduced passenger carrying capacityof the C-7A Caribou

The 483rd TAW Director of Op-erations, Colonel Larivee designatedone of his staff members as MissionCommander, who established a com-mand center at the Pleiku ALCE. Thisoffice was located on the second floorof the Operations building. It had anexcellent view of the entire airdromeflight line, aircraft parking and cargo

War Stories!


loading areas.The Wing operations staff had

planned for a Lt. Col. from each ofthe 457 and 458 TAS to be on-siteCommanders at Bu Kev (east) andBung Lung (west) airfields. Thesesite Commanders were to be assistedby a Major. Each airfield would havea “Tailpipe” team which would con-trol the air traffic.

A “tailpipe” Team consisted ofthree highly skilled enlisted aircrafttraffic controllers. Their equipmentconsisted of a jeep vehicle and a com-munications trailer. This team had thecapability of communicating with the834th Air Division Command Cen-ter, code name “HILDA”, as well asmilitary aircraft. The Jeep and trailercombination was air transportable ina C-7A Caribou aircraft.

The morning of 23 June 1970 wasvery busy with flight planning, load-ing the aircraft with the “Tailpipe”equipment, and mission briefing. AirDivision had directed that the“Tailpipe” teams be in position andoperational prior to the C-7A rescueflights commencing. As a result ateam was off loaded at each base ofoperations, Bu Kev (East) and BungLung (West), by late afternoon 23June 1970.

As mission site commander atBung Lung (West), I was to remainthere over night so as to coordinatethe ground operations with the Cam-bodian station Commander,“Tailpipe” team and the many hun-dreds of refugees who were anxiouslyawaiting evacuation.

My first priority, upon arriving atBung Lung (West) in the earlyevening, was to check in with the“Tailpipe Team” who had been theresince mid morning. This highlytrained team had established them-selves in the center of the airfieldapproximately 150 feet west of the09-27 latterite landing strip. Theirradio equipment trailer with powergenerator and antennas was function-ing. Communications had been estab-

lished with Air Division..My second priority was to inspect

the landing strip, especially thetouch-down area, to determine theextent and severity of the C-123 rut-ting. I was not surprised to find atleast six deep ruts of approximately8-10 inches deep and several morethat measured only 3-5 inches deep.Any one of which would be hazard-ous to landing aircraft.. I immediatelycoordinated with the Cambodian Sta-tion Chief to make necessary repairsduring the night so that early morn-ing air operations could begin.

The Station Chief, who couldspeak English but would rather con-verse in French, assured me that themost severe ruts would be filled asquickly as possible. He did tell methough that the materials required todo the job correctly lay outside theairfield perimeter and was under thecontrol of the attacking insurgents.Fortunately the ground was dryingout, becoming more firm, and no rainhad been forecast.

My third priority was to inspect thepierced steel planking (psp), in frontof the operations terminal, that servedas aircraft parking and on/off load-ing of cargo and passengers. The pspwas in very good condition and pro-vided ample room for at least twoCaribou’s to load passengers simul-taneously. There was, however, aSouth Vietnamese C-47 parked justwest of the terminal building thatwould have to be relocated. The Sta-tion Chief stated that the SVN C-47was not in commission but that acrew was expected to arrive the nextday to make repairs and evacuate theairplane along with several SVNmilitary personnel.

The station chief extended an in-vitation to myself and the “Tail Pipe”team from Brigadier General NeakSam, Commander of the Fifth Cam-bodian Region, for the evening meal.The General could not converse inEnglish, consequently the eveningwas spent with the Station Chief

translating Cambodian, French andEnglish. The meal consisted of agreen leafy salad, white rice and aspicy chicken stew with vegetables.I have recollections of a cider or mildbeer, from bottles, as the local watermay not have been wise for us todrink. None of we Americans had anyill effects from the meal that couldhave limited our performance of dutythe next day.

The Station Chief insisted that Iuse his quarters for the night. Theroom was about 12 feet square witha double bed surrounded by mosquitonetting. I do recall being awakenedseveral times during the night by thesounds of gunfire. There was an AK-47 weapon, which provided me withlittle or no comfort, along side of thebed. The “Tail Pipe” team chose tosleep under a shelter along side theirjeep and communication trailer. Thisteam was very capable, self-sufficientand equipped with small arms fortheir own protection. They neededabsolutely no support from the air-field and certainly no input from me.Rather it was I who was dependentupon them as they controlled aircraftarrivals and departures.

Just prior to daybreak I was awak-ened by the changing of a guard, tofind the Station Chief returning fromoverseeing repairs to the runway sur-face. To my dismay, upon making myown inspection, I saw that largepieces of concrete had been dumpedin some of the deepest ruts. For themost part, this attempt to solve thetouch down area problems was totallyinadequate but it was too late to at-tempt any further repairs since theairplanes were already inbound. Ittook me about 20 minutes to removethe larger chunks of concrete whichwould have damaged the tires oflanding Caribou’s.

I informed the “Tail Pipe” team ofthe touch down area conditions sothat the Aircraft Commanders couldbe advised to land “long” avoidingthe first 200 feet of the landing strip.


The team advised me that the firstCaribou’s would be arriving fromPleiku at 0730 hours and then aboutevery 30 minutes apart.

At first morning light I estimatethat there were over 200 refugeescrowded around the terminal build-ing, however, this number rapidlyincreased in a very short period oftime. There were people of every age,from babies slung in blankets arounda mother’s neck to several very oldmen who had to walk with a cane.There were only a very few youngmen or older boys, whom I suspectwere being used as a defense againstthe insurgent overrun. Many of thewomen were carrying large bundlesof their possessions on their backs orbalanced on their heads. As the daygrew older some of these bundleswould be abandoned as the passen-gers scrambled to board the aircraft.

I have no recollection of a break-fast meal that morning. It is possiblethat the first arriving aircraft broughteither in-flight or boxed rations withthem for the four of us who had re-mained overnight. I do recall havingone of my squadron Aircraft Com-manders bring some sandwiches forlunch along with a cooler of ice andseveral soft drinks that we all shared.

With the arrival of the first C-7A,a Major (whose name I cannot recall)from the 458th TAS, came to assistin the marshaling of aircraft on theground. After the first plane, loadedwith refugees, had departed our nextorder of business was to relocate theSVN “gooney Bird” out of the turnaround and loading area. The newlyarrived Major, who was familiar withthe aircraft, released the C-47 park-ing brake while I recruited about 20refugees to push the airplane across150 feet of psp ramp. That gave ussufficient room to load two C-7A air-craft simultaneously. This proved tobe very beneficial since the SVNmaintenance team and the air crewdid not arrive until much later in theday. By that time we had evacuated

approximately 500 refugees.The first of the aircraft that were

to ferry the refugees to Pleiku SVNbegan to arrive at Bung Lung at about0730 hours 23 June 1970. Aircraftwere then scheduled to arrive at 30minute intervals. All went well withthis plan for the first few hours. Uponreviewing the 8 MM super eightmovie film that I took, it was evidentthat the mass of refugees was not di-minishing. In fact the number ofCambodians awaiting evacuation hadincreased as the hours passed. It wasobvious that word had spread amongthe citizenry that an evacuation wasreally taking place at the airfield..

The fact that the airfield perimeterwas undergoing probing attacks bythe insurgents created an increasedurgency to our operations. The rearloading ramps of the aircraft were nosooner lowered than the peoplewould clamber aboard, assistingmothers with children and the elderly.The only way that we could stop thehectic boarding was for theloadmaster to begin to close the clamshell type rear doors and the AircraftCommander begin taxing out of theloading area.

It was shortly after the “Tail pipe”team had coordinated for an air strikeon the field perimeter that the ur-gency to load more people at a fasterrate really took effect. The A-7 Spadcame directly over the loading area,in a dive, as he fired both rockets andguns at the insurgents just outside theairfield perimeter. There had beensome intermittent small arms firingas a result of the probing attacks. Allof this sound of battle had created apanic of sorts among the women refu-gees, especially those with infantshung in blankets around their necks.

It was at this time that I saw awoman who could not get on a plane,due to the crush of anxious franticpeople, actually toss her infant intoan aircraft as the doors were closing.I can only surmise that the mother hadpitched the child to a relative or

friend that was already in the plane.I truly do not know if the womanever did get out on a subsequentflight later in the day.

As the day wore on, the tempera-ture and sun started to have an ef-fect on all of us. My only protec-tion from the sun was a militaryoverseas cap and I could feel the sunburning my face and neck. Many ofthe refugees were wearing the tra-ditional round conical woven reedhats that shaded their head andshoulders. I actually tried one ofthem on, but it was very small andwould have blown away in the slip-stream of maneuvering airplanes. Asluck would have it I saw, in a groupof refugees who would be boardingon the next bird, a taller woman whowas wearing a military style Frenchcampaign hat.

With a grateful apology I liber-ated the woman from that hat andgave her my overseas cap. I haveoften wondered at what kind ofcomments were generated when shegot off the plane at Pleiku wearinga Lt. Colonel’s rank insignia on anAir Force overseas cap. That liber-ated French campaign hat was agreat relief to me during the rest ofthe evacuation. After all of this timeI still have that hat and wear it toevery Caribou reunion, even thoughit is sweat stained and slightly odor-ous.

I am very sorry and somewhat re-luctant to relate this next occur-rence. Of course, it was of militarynecessity to load the passengerswith the engines still running at anidle RPM. At one time, followingthe strafing run of the “Spad” therewere two C-7A’s in the parking area.While I was marshaling the planes,watching the wing tip clearance, theright engine propeller of one of theplanes struck an elderly man in thehead. He had been sitting on a wo-ven reed mat, blocked out of my lineof sight by the right landing gear. Iimmediately contacted the Station


Chief and notified him of the acci-dent, He, in turn, ordered the ambu-lance, that had been standing by allday, to remove the body. As I wasapologizing for the death, he in-formed me that the victim had beenan old soldier who had served in theCambodian Army many years ago. Healso told me that the victim was al-most blind, profoundly deaf andprobably would never have been ableto climb aboard an airplane. His“c’est la vie” comments and de-meanor did little to appease my feel-ings of remorse, but we had hundredsmore people to evacuate and it wasrapidly approaching late afternoon. Itwas a tragic accident and to myknowledge the only death or injuryof the day.

As I recall, it was after 1700 hourswhen “Hilda” ordered me out on whatwas the last flight of the day. The“Tail Pipe” team was instructed toremain in position as the evacuationwas planned to continue the nextmorning. As I boarded the aircraftand made my way forward to theflight deck I had to climb over whatmust have been at least 50 refugees.They were sitting two deep on thecanvas seats and packed in elbow toelbow as they sat on the floor of thecargo compartment. Many of themtugged at my flight suit and speakingFrench, Cambodian and an occa-sional understandable “thank you”expressed their appreciation for aid-ing their escape from the insurgents

PostscriptIt was in the very early morning

hours of the following day when the“tail pipe” team notified “Hilda” thatthe airfield was under attack by in-surgents and in imminent danger ofbeing overrun. “Hilda” directed thata C-7A be sent from Pleiku to evacu-ate the team. An Aircraft Com-mander, Captain Palmer Arnold, andcrew made a black-out landing topick up the team. Due to the urgencyand very minimum ground time theyhad been ordered to abandon the jeepand equipment trailer. The team did,however disable the equipment so as

to prevent the enemy from using it. Ihave recently been informed thatCaptain Arnold was awarded the AirForce Silver Star for the rescue of the“tail pipe” team. For my participationin this refugee evacuation, I wasawarded The Bronze Star Medal bythe United States Air Force. I canonly surmise that the “tail pipe team”was appropriately decorated for theiroutstanding performance of duty. Itwas largely by their expertise anddedication that many hundreds ofCambodian refugees were rescued.

Postscript 2If there was an “after action” re-

port made for this Cambodian Refu-gee evacuation, I have no knowledgeof its’ author or current location. Itwas a common practice, by unit his-torians, to include such reports intheir chronological history of the or-ganization. These types of action re-ports were many times included ordiscussed in the “end of tour” reportscompiled by the departing WingCommanders. There is a possibilitythat a more comprehensive and per-haps revealing report of the “action”may be found in the Maxwell AirForce Base archives of the deacti-vated 483rd Tactical Airlift Wing.

The following passage is borrowedfrom Ray Bower’s Tactical Airlift,The United States Air Force inSouthEast Asia. It rather nicely addsto what Bob has told us in his report.

“The 834th Air Division learned ofthe evacuation plan on June 22. Sinceneither Ba Kev nor Boung Long air-field had been used previously by834th aircraft, survey teams flew inby C-7 before dusk that evening. Bothstrips were of laterite, and both weremore than thirty-three hundred feetin length. Based on the surveys, thedecision was made to attempt theevacuation using C-123s rather thanCaribous to take advantage of the123’s greater passenger capacity andthe reliability promised by their aux-iliary jets. C-7s were left on standby.On the morning of the twenty-third,after several hours of delay caused

by rainfall and low visibility, C-7slifted airlift mission commanders andcombat control teams into the twoevacuation points. Meanwhile threeC-123s took off from home stationsfor the first pickups. The three landedand made safe departures, but it wasclear that the rain-soaked laterite wastoo soft for further C-123 landings.

“Accordingly the effort becameentirely a C-7 one, and by nightfallCaribou crews had withdrawn 542refugees from the two points.

“Enemy fire prevented resumptionof the airlift from Ba Kev the nextmorning, and the control team therewas withdrawn by helicopter. TheBoung Long evacuation continued,however, and by evening of thetwenty-fourth another twenty-fivehundred refugees had been lifted outto Pleiku. The communists nearlyoverran the camp during the night,and at dawn Capt. Palmer G. Arnoldearned the Silver Star by flying outthe last C-7 under small-arms fire. Inall, the C-7s lifted out thirty-one hun-dred refugees in forty-five sorties, anaverage of sixty-nine passengers perload (twenty-four was the nominalmaximum) without loss. In addition,Vietnamese Air Force C-47s and C-119s made landings at both Cambo-dian fields prior to the heavy rainfall.The garrison and the last two hundredcivilians moved overland to Ba Kevby road on June 25 and by road andhelicopter from Ba Kev to Duc Co.Most of the Cambodian troops, afterreequipping and retraining, eventu-ally returned to Cambodia."

Bob Blaylock, our historian,asks for other air or ground crewswho participated in the operationto please get in touch with him. Hewould like to talk to anyone whohas any knowledge that might addto this saga. Bob wants to developthis into an historical story.

Bob Blaylock633 Cardinal LaneLexington, KY [email protected]


KLOPPS FLOPThe following story is taken from The ArmyOtter/Caribou Association Newsletter. Ichecked with Bruce Silvey to see if hethought it appropriate to run in our news-letter. He said go ahead. Ed

Aircraft of the 61st AviationCompany were involved in two pre-vious accidents in the same generalsector, both involving sliding off theend of a slippery grass strip. (Re-member, this was before the Caribouhad reversible propellers.) The gear-up landing was to be accident num-ber three.

The unfortunate Captain Klopphad a landing incident and damageda Caribou nose gear. The A/C was leftat the field. A maintenance crew wassent to this field to prepare it for ferryback to Vung Tau.The maintenancecrew was actually working on thefirst A/C when Captain Klopp had hissecond unfortunate event at the sameairfield.

The crew flying the Caribou onthis fateful day, Captain Al Klopp andCaptain Jake Keefer, had been in-volved in one of the earlier accidents.As I recall, Jake Keefer had been thepilot that day.

On the day of the gear-up acci-dent, Al Klopp was pilot.Themission could not have been morestressful— this crew had an accidenthistory, they were flying theC O M U S M A C V , G e n e r a lHarkins, AND they were going intoa short grass strip that had been thescene of an earlier accident. Becauseof this, the crew elected to make alow pass over the strip to be abso-lutely sure that conditions were OK. They advised the crew chief that thiswas not a landing, but a low pass!

As they neared the strip, there wasa great deal of radio traffic frompeople already on the ground andawaiting the arrival of GeneralHarkins. There were some asking,“How many in the General’s party? How long will they stay? Where willthey go next? What does he want tosee?” There were others, reportedly

including a helicopter pilot on theground, saying “Come on in — thestrip is in fine condition.” And stillanother, urging the crew to hurrysince the General was behindschedule. The crew completed thepre-landing checklist down to “land-ing gear,” then noted “we’ll hold thegear. This is a low pass.”

The flight continued inbound, setup a landing pattern, and began theapproach. The crew chief was com-fortable that the gear was not neededsince this approach was to end witha go-around. As luck would have it,however, the approach was perfect. The aircraft was stable, the strip wasreported to be dry and firm, and therewas pressure to get back onschedule. Somewhere on thatglidepath the pilots made a mentalestimate that a go-around wasn’tneeded. The conditions were fine, so“let’s land.”

Al Klopp made an excellent land-ing, and the stopping distance hadnever been shorter. Unfortunately,the Caribou was on its belly ratherthan on its wheels. General Harkinsemerged, reportedly saying “That’s ahelluva way to get a Caribou stoppedon a short field.”

The aircrew was suspended fromflying pending the outcome of a Fly-ing Evaluation Board. In about thirtydays, the Board was convened inSaigon to render judgment. Follow-ing an excellent defense by PaulStansel (Operations Officer of the 1stAviation Company) the two pilotswere returned to full flying status. Paul cited the stressful situation, andthe high volume of radio traffic thatinterfered with communicationsamong the crewmembers, andshowed that these ingredients couldcause even the best pilots to err.

Some time later I shared an of-fice with Al Klopp as we were on thesame teaching team at the Commandand General Staff College. He was afine officer.

Hi Dave,Well here’s my story and I’m stick-

ing to it. Most of it anyway. This iswhat an old aircraft mechanic canremember after 30 years. The air-speeds, altitudes and flight timesmight not be right on, as well as someof the numbers, but the story is close.

A lot of this is in note form so feelfree to edit it as you see fit to make itmore readable. Feel free to give me acall when questions come up.

Note – These aircraft were nevertest flown. The last time they werein the air was when the Vietnamesepilots flew them out of Saigon. Wedid a lot of run-ups and taxis butnever a test hop before our GREATADVENTURE.

Dave Kowalski’s notes of his GREAT ADVENTURE.

In 1972 the Vietnamese Air Forcewas to take over a larger part of thewar. Many of the C-7A Caribous weresent back to reserve units in thestates. The 908th Tactical AirliftGroup at Maxwell AFB receivedeighteen of these aircraft.

April 1975. Vietnam falls to theCommunists. Five C-7As are flownfrom Saigon, loaded with women,kids and whoever else they could geton, to Utapao, Thailand. The crewscouldn’t get permission to land sothey put the aircraft down in the grassbetween the runways. When the ac-tive duty Rapid Aircraft Teams foundthem – sunk in the mud, full of bulletholes – they used bulldozers to pullthem out and take them to the washracks.

Keep in mind that these C-7A’shad been in Vietnam, flown by theVietnamese from 1972 till 1975.They had no U.S. markings on them(Stars, USAF, Tail numbers, etc) andthere weren’t any 781 Aircraft Forms.No one knew when the last inspec-tion was performed or even howmany hours were on the engines orairframes.

(Note) These were the aircraft that


we would fly for 13,000 miles, 95plus flying hours. Thinking back now,it was almost a suicide mission.(Why? Guess what happened to theseaircraft.) The U.S. said we wanted theaircraft back because they were ours.The Communists said the South Viet-namese stole them because the Com-munists were in charge of the coun-try when the aircraft took off fromSaigon. Uncle Sam was determinedto get the C-7A’s back at all costs.(Why?)

During our daily intelligence brief-ings at Utapao the CIA guy said theCommunist were ready to shoot usdown if we tried to fly them out ofThailand. A plan was devised whereF 4s would be on alert in Thailanduntil we got out of Mig range ofSouth Vietnam. When we finally de-parted Thailand we had to call for aircover off the coast of Cambodia whenwe got threatening radio messagesand could see the Migs high over-head. We were flying at 500 feet andwhen the F 4s showed up they saidwe were almost impossible to spoteven thought they knew about wherewe were. Keep in mind that all of thiswas happening during the same timeframe as the Mygueze Incident.

FIRST LEG2 July 1975. Six pilots, three flight

mechanics, and two maintenanceguys and me, as Maintenance Chief,were at Danley Field in Montgomery,Alabama to catch a flight to TravisAFB, California. We carried every-thing we would need to bring the C-7A’s back to the U.S. – tool boxes,survival gear, parachutes, coldweather gear, mobility bags, aircraftforms, and five bicycle pumps thatwe had bought from Sears. We gotsome real strange looks at the airportespecially when we carried the para-chutes on board. We flew in a DC-10from Montgomery to San Francisco.Flying in our military flight suits ona civilian aircraft generated a lot ofquestions from the civilian flightcrews as well as the passengers. We

couldn’t tell them anything, we didn’tknow much ourselves. Had a big timein Frisco that night before continu-ing on to Travis AFB the next day.

We had trouble getting a flight outof Travis. Our mission commandergave the local operations phone num-ber to the Pentagon. After the localoperations people talked with thePentagon we got on a C-141 that af-ternoon. We didn’t have any troublefrom then on making connections atHickam, Clark AFB Philippine Is-land, and then on to Thailand.

SECOND LEG5 July 1975When we arrived at Utapao, Thai-

land we found that the RAM team hadinstalled three 500-gallon fuel blad-der tanks in each aircraft. Now thegross max weight of a C-7A was28,500 pounds. With fuel, oil, andequipment installed it went off theslip stick at over 35,000 pounds! Wecalled deHaviland (manufacturer ofthe C-7) for advice. They said it waspossible to take off with that muchweight if the runway was longenough, but we couldn’t land until thefuel was burnt down to 28,500pounds. The mission commander saidOK since this was a high priority mis-sion. (Why?)

The aircraft had no de-icing equip-ment installed. The people at ScottAFB said we would take the airplanesback by the northern route throughAlaska. The de-icing pumps used toinflate the de-icing boots on the lead-ing edges of the wings were inopera-tive long ago – who needs de-icingequipment in Vietnam? Those samede-icing pumps were designed topressurize the ferry fuel bladdertanks. So, with them inoperable, wehad to install an electric air pump inthe cargo compartment to maintain 5p.s.i. in the tanks to insure a positiveflow of fuel when transferring fuelto the main wing tanks. The cargocompartment was all wires, tubes,hoses and fuel bladders. This is thefirst time the C-7A had three bladder

tanks installed; normally there areonly two. The bicycle pumps webrought with us from Montgomerywere the back up system to maintainthe 5 p.s.i. if the electric pumpsfailed.

There were no U.S. markings onthe aircraft. One of our pilots was ahouse painter so he took it upon him-self to get some O.D. paint and paintover any Vietnamese markings, andsome black paint to at least paint onsome tail numbers so we could iden-tify ourselves. The paint ran on thetail numbers, and looked even worsewhen he tried to paint USAF on thewings. (We were told how awful theylooked by several irate base com-manders when we got to the states.We were always parked where no onecould see us.)

It was now time to start our triphome. We sorted ourselves into crews– we had five aircraft to take back.We made three crews from the 908thTactical Airlift Group, Maxwell AFB,Alabama, two crews from the 94th

Tactical Airlift Wing, Dobbins AFB,Georgia. Our aircraft number was639. I can’t remember the others.

9 July. Our first stop was ClarkAB, in the Philippine Islands. Someincidental facts on this leg:

A. Twelve and a half-hour flightfrom Utapao, Thailand to Clark AB.

B. Max speeds 110 knots, max al-titude 2000 feet.

C. During this leg is where wewere threatened to be shot down.

D. Got lost in thunderstorms offthe Philippine islands. Duck Butt (C-130) had to bail us out and vector usinto Clark AB.

E. Landed low on oil. The low oillevel light never did come on.

F. Number one engine used 17 gal-lons of oil. Tank holds 22.2 gallons.

G. Customs made us off load en-tire aircraft. They searched every-thing – their dog found a clip of M-16 rounds under the pilot’s seat.

H. Replaced three cylinders on theSee Adventure on page 20


left engine to try to cut down on oilconsumption.

I. They really had good beer in thePhilippines.

15 July. Our second stop wasAnderson AB, Guam.

A. The whole base was full of B-52s.

B. We had to change the nose tire.There were no jacks available so weused a 12 foot 4 x 4 and a block, andwith four guys on the end of the 4 x4 we got the nose off the ground.

C. The end of the runway droppedstraight down to the ocean about 300feet below. We were still taking offat 35,000 pounds gross. Everyonewas hoping and praying that wedidn’t loose an engine on takeoff.

D. We had to leave one aircraft atGuam – it had a bad fuel leak in thewing tank. The crew of that Bou wasfrom the 94th TAW at Dobbins AFB.They left the aircraft and caught hopsback to Georgia. Never did hear whathappened to the aircraft. Might stillbe sitting at Anderson AFB in Guam.

E. We couldn’t go to Wake Islandbecause Vietnamese boat people werethere.

19July . Third stop was atKwajalen Atoll.

A. Beautiful scenery along entireroute, flying at about 1000 feet. Hun-dreds of Atolls, water was all shadesof blue. Beautiful!

B. Flew with cargo door open tosuck out the fuel fumes.

C. Threw wine bottles out of backdoor with notes and our address backin the states. About two years later agirl from New Guinea wrote and saidshe found a bottle on the beach.

D. Changed a magneto on the leftengine.

E. Went skin diving. Water wasbeautiful – clear as a bell.

F. Called my wife, Chris, andfound out we were going to have ababy!

24 July. Fourth stop was at Mid-way Island.

A. Slept in old navy aircraft han-gar.

B. Crossed International DateLine.

C. There was a huge statue of aGooney Bird. Midway is a bird sanc-tuary. When we ran up the aircraftengines the Gooney Birds would getin the prop wash and try to take off.It worked good for them until wewent to power (2800 rpm). Thatkilled several of the birds. Wethought we were going to jail, andprobably would have if the missioncommander hadn’t used priority mis-sion status on the Navy Commander.

D. Worked hard on the engines.There was no place to stop betweenMidway and Adak in the Aleutian Is-lands.

28 July 1975. Fifth stop was atAdak.

A. About five hours out of Mid-way we developed high oil temp andlow oil pressure on the left engine.We alerted Duck Butt – the parajumpers got all excited, but welanded at Adak OK and found that theoil temperature regulator was bad.

B. We landed with very strong(out of limits) crosswinds. I remem-ber looking out the cargo compart-ment window just before touch downand I could see to the far end of therunway. Roughest and scariest land-ing I ever made in a C-7A.

C. This is in the last days of July.The wind was blowing about 50 knotsand the temperature was 30 degreeswith snow. A far cry from a fewweeks ago in Thailand – 90 degreesplus.

D. Found out all of the coldweather gear in the mobility bags waseither size small or extra large. Andmost boots and gloves were all forthe right feet and right hands.

E. We landed on Sunday and therewas no one in Base Operations. Wewere tired and hungry and we alllayed down on the floor to rest. Thebase commander showed up aboutthree hours after we landed, ranting

and raving about why no one told himwe were coming. No one stood at at-tentions when he walked in and thatmade things worse yet. None of ushad a hair cut in over three weeks andwe looked a little scruffy. He wantedto know who was in charge.

Our mission commander, Lt. ColC.B., had got a hermit crab atKwajalen Atoll that he kept in hisflight suit pocket. The crab died atAdak and Lt. Col C.B. was giving itits last rites on the counter in baseops. We told the Navy Commanderthis and he couldn’t take it any moreand he called the Shore Patrol whogot us some chow and escorted us,and restricted us, to the barracks. Thenext day it all got sorted out after atrip to the base barber shop. He stillwanted us off of his base ASAP. Wefixed the airplane, refueled, and weregone in three days.

A word about our Mission Com-mander. Lt. Col C.B. was one of akind. Just a few examples:

- On certain missions he wouldwear three watches on one arm andone on the other. I forget now the ra-tionale.

- He would tell stories of how thetrees made the wind blow.

- One early Sunday morning wewere flying over Texas. The sun hadjust come up and it was a beautifulday for flying. The engines were run-ning great, sounded good and nevermissed a beat. Lt. Col C.B started togive us a long dissertation on whatwas happening inside the engines;how the pistons were going up anddown; how the planetary and sungears were making the prop turn; howthe pushrods were making the valvesopen and close; how the carburetorwas delivering fuel to the impeller;ect. On and on it went for well overfifteen minutes. I think he was some-where between the magnetos and thespark plugs when number two enginestarted backfiring and caught fire. Iguess she just couldn’t take how good

Adventure from page 19

Continued on next page


Lt. Col. C.B. said she was running.Ha! Anyway, Lt.Col C.B. tells thecopilot to look out the window andmake sure the fire is out after shutdown and firing the fire bottle. Thecopilot, a 2nd Lt , opens the window,sticks his head out but forgets to takehis head set off. It was blown off hishead and into the engine. After anemergency landing at Lackland AFB,Texas the fire chief was looking atthe engine and was curious about howthe head set got slammed between thecylinders. I don’t think he ever got astraight answer on that. Never a dullmoment with Lt. Col C.B. around.And yes, he did give his crab last ritesat Adak.

After Adak we headed forElmendorf AFB in Anchorage,Alaska. One aircraft had to make anemergency landing at Nikolski onUmnak Island. We were getting lighticing conditions and his carburetordoor would not come out of the “hot”position. The rest of us continued on.

A. We soon got into severe icingconditions with clear ice at 1500 feet.Our pilot elected not to go up or downto try to get out of the icing becausewe didn’t know where the other air-craft were. We started to lose altitude,so we sent out an SOS emergencycall. We all got on our poopy suits –I flew the airplane while our pilot gotout of the seat to get his on. Westarted loosing airspeed. Pitot tubedeicing didn’t work and the tubeslooked like they had soft balls on theends. We broke out of the clouds atabout 500 feet. Went on down toabout 250 feet. There were highmountains on the left side and bigwaves with whitecaps below.

B. After we broke out the icestarted to come off and we couldmaintain altitude. When the icestarted breaking off the props itsounded like someone was beating onthe fuselage with a sledgehammer.

C. We made an emergency land-ing at King Salmon.

30 July. King Salmon, on the

Alaskan Peninsula was our sixth stop.A. We pulled a good inspection of

the aircraft and found no damage. Weall got drunk that night.

B. The other aircraft didn’t ice upas bad as we did. We were in themiddle, the top aircraft climbed andgot out of it and the bottom aircraftdescended and got out of it. Westayed put to prevent a mid air colli-sion. The other aircraft continued onto Anchorage.

C. It was still cold. We all lookedfunny with our different size coldweather gear on.

Elmendorf AFB, Anchorage,Alaska was our seventh stop. It wasa short flight from King Salmon toElmendorf.

A. As soon as we cleared the run-way at Elmendorf, we picked up anescort of several air police and othervehicles. We were led to a remote partof the base for customs and interro-gation.

B. One of the aircraft that hadlanded the night before (a Dobbinscrew) ran afoul of customs. Theyfound twenty Thailand wallets thatthe flight mechanic had hidden over-head and not declared on the customform. The crew also had given thecustom guys a hard time – BADTHING TO DO!

C. The custom guys went over ouraircraft with a fine tooth comb, butfound nothing. After their inspection(eight hours sitting on the ramp) theytook us to a room in a hanger to in-terrogate us one by one. Our flightmechanic said something wrongabout a dress he had bought for hiswife and customs confiscated every-thing he had. He never did get it allback.

D. Had a big bash at the “O” club,all the king crab we could eat. We allgot drunk and left the next morningfor McCord AFB in Tacoma, Wash-ington.

E. The windshield on one aircraftcracked after takeoff and he returnedto base. That crew was from the

94TAC and there was a maintenanceguy on board, so a windshield wasshipped up and he replaced it. Theairplane made it to Dothan, but wasa few days late behind us.

F. We flew along the coast at about5000 feet. The glaciers were beauti-ful. But this was a very cold part ofthe trip. We rapped up in blankets totry and keep warm. The wooded is-lands off British Columbia werebreathtaking.

2 August. McCord AFB, Washing-ton, our eighth stop. This was a rou-tine stop, however, I did meet an oldbuddy that I went to airframe andpower plant school with.

3 August. McClellen AFB, Cali-fornia, our ninth stop. Right backwhere we started from.

4 August. Our tenth stop is atDavis Monthan AFB in Arizona. Allroutine.

5 August. Bergstrom AFB inTexas became our eleventh stop. Metanother old buddy, Teddy Slaton, whoI was stationed with in Vietnam andalso at Homestead AFB, Florida. Wespent the night telling war stories.

6 August. We made our twelfthstop at Dothan, Alabama on August4, 1975.

A. The 908th sent a C-7A fromMaxwell to pick us up. No one talkedmuch on the way home.

B. A private contractor at DothanHays International, was supposed torehab the aircraft and then send themback to our units in operational con-dition. We would incorporate them inwith our eighteen other mission air-craft.

Stop thirteen. Home! MaxwellAFB, Alabama

February 1976. The rest of thestory. Our commander got a call fromthe contractor who said the aircraftwere in such bad shape that it wouldnot be cost effective to put them backin operational status. After we flew13,000 miles in them and risked ourlives they were going back to the

Continued on page 22


bone yard at Davis-Monthan AFB.Aweek later the same crews that flewthem across the 4-engine oceanpicked them up at Dothan anddropped them off at Davis-Monthan.

After thought. If we had been shotdown or crashed somewhere, whatwould the Department of Defensesay? I bet it wouldn’t be the wholetruth. It was a great adventure backthen no matter what the risks. Butlooking back at it all, I wonder. . . ?

Continued from page 21

Break Failure...SnowBlindness…Or What?

It was August 1967 when we gotword on the 536th flight line that oneof our birds was down and broke inthe middle of the Michelin RubberPlantation near Tay Ninh City in warzone “D” where, we were told therewas a hot war going in.

The story was the crew, while tax-ing and making a swinging right turnin a somewhat congested jungle air-strip and amid a cloud of dust anddirt, struck a large rubber tree dam-aging the left wing just outboard ofthe landing light.

Thoughtfully…I visualized thathitting a “rubber” tree couldn’t do awhole heck of a lot of serious dam-age to the airplane. Maybe just apimpled dent to the leading edge. NoBiggie!

I grubbed me a tin bender from thesheet metal shop and we jumpedaboard a waiting caribou and headedup country for another routine recov-ery.

Boy! Did I ever luck out on thisone. We arrived at Tay Ninh, toucheddown and taxied off the landing stripover to our wounded bird. It lookedlike bad news to me. The left wingwas literally wrapped around thetrunk of a 70-foot high palm-like rub-ber tree. The aircraft had struck thetree trunk and buried it all the wayinto the main spar. (Good Job!!) For-

tunately the damage was centeredmainly in the area between the wingribs. As we approached the aircraftfrom the rear it looked like the treehad grown up through the wing.

Someone had shinnied up the tree(or they had sent their monkey up)and attached a two inch thick ropeabout 25 feet above the ground withthe other end tied to the rear axel ofa ten ton army dump truck. The armytroops had pulled and arched the treeover in an attempt to free the airplane,but their efforts only resulted in drag-ging the Caribou along with the tree.

I asked an army grunt who was incharge of the camp. He directed meback a jungle trail to a 12-man tentwhere I found an overweight Sgt 1st

who was busy eating junk food andwatching Armed Forces TV fromSaigon. He told me he had done allhe could do to free the airplane fromthe tree and warned me that the VCowned the other side and south endof the 1500 foot runway (PSP) andthat; “You guys better get that air-plane out of here before night fall orthe army won’t be responsible for youor your airplane.”

About that time I heard the roar ofCaribou engines as the crew whobrought us in was making their take-off run and high climb-out headingfor home. All of a sudden the situa-tion got a little lonesome in theMichelin Rubber Plantation for usfive Air Force weenies who were leftthere pretty much to our own devices.

Now it was not “if” we can get itfreed from the tree and get the wingrepaired; it was “Hey Sarge! Howsoon will this bird be ready to fly?”And I don’t need to name the indi-vidual who put that question to mebut I will say I had a couple of yourCaribou pilots who were gettingpretty nervous. The flight Mechanic?He was back up the trail watching TVwith that big hairy Army Sgt 1st.

The drama goes on. As we werestanding there consulting with eachother (two young officers and two

“older” NCO’s) an army weaponscarrier roars up and this army corpo-ral hands me a large and cumbersomeMacalluch chain saw with a 40 inchblade and a leaking fuel tank yelling:“This baby will take out that tree likeyou’re cutting through butter.”Well…what the heck – we may aswell give it a try. So, while the armyagain pulled the tree and arched itover with their ten-ton truck, shak-ing and jerking the old Bou merci-lessly (seemed worse that it reallywas) I began my cut through the “but-ter.” The old chain saw blade had cutabout a quarter of the way throughthe tree trunk when the rope broke,the tree snapped back up-right, theCaribou shook and shuttered andquivered (looked worse that it was)and that chain saw blade probablyremains locked in that rubber tree tothis day.

The tale goes on. My tin benderand I again talked over the situation.It came to us at the same moment.How much more damage would wecause if we attempted to back the air-plane away from the tree instead oftrying to pull the tree away from theairplane? We both agreed we wouldnever know unless we tried it.

Assigning my tin bender asfireguard I fired up the number oneengine (for any novices reading thistale that would be the left engine)after he assured me of clearance tothe rear, and with the engine in idle Ireversed the prop pitch and slowlybrought up the power. At 2000 rpmthe aircraft shook and rattled and vi-brated but would not move back andaway from the tree. At this time I wascertain I was doing serious damageto the airplane (it looked, soundedand felt worse that it really was) so Ieased off the power and brought thethrottle back to idle. SSgt JohnnyHarris, my tin bending fire guard al-ready realized what I had in mind,moved over to the number two engineas I fired it up to idle, reversed theprop and very slowly and deliberately


brought up the power on both enginesto 1500 rpm. Nothing happened atthat point. Just as I began to push thethrottles up a little more the aircraftshook itself loose from the tree andall I can recall is jerking the throttlesback and tapping the brakes lightly. Ifelt the tail sink behind me as the noseraised a little and then settled backto the ground rather gently. Free atlast, free at last. Johnny Harris latertold me it looked like a large fly pull-ing itself away from a flytrap strip.

By this time the hole in the lead-ing edge of the wing had taken on adifferent nature. There were tears andrips and shreds of metal giving theappearance of a bomb having ex-ploded inside the wing. Looked realugly. The hole was larger that a 25-gallon lard can lid.

But I indeed did luck out on thisone! When I grabbed a tin benderback at Vung Tau I’ll tell you Igrabbed the very best. John Harriswas a marvelous fabricator! As far asI am concerned John saved that air-plane from getting mortared or shotup had we not got it fixed and out ofthere on time. Using the ten ton truckbed as a maintenance stand and withme assisting (actually trying to stayout of John’s way) he trimmed all thedamage away and applied a perfectlyhand molded patch with a hand-squeeze pop-rivet gun.

We had stripped off our jungle fa-tigue tops because of the 108-degreeheat in direct sunlight. As we werefinishing up and admiring John’sgood work and while still up on thetruck bed this army jeep comes skid-ding up to a stop, and of all peopleit’s the old ugly army Sgt 1st (fivestripes) yelling at us to get our shirtsback on. He went on to explain hehad just come from across the run-way and Harris and I, in white teeshirts, were perfect targets for the VCgunners over there. We had beenworking up there for over three hours.He laughed as he told us we had defi-nitely dodged a VC bullet this time.

Caribou Hats and Shirts For Saleat The Caribou Store

The following merchandise is now in stock at the Caribou Merchandise store. AllHats and Shirts have the C-7A Caribou Logo Embroidery

Caribou Ball Caps, White or Denim $ 15.00. Polo Shirts. Colors: White, Light Blue, Gray, Red, and Yellow, Sizes: S, M, L, XL,2XL $20.00.Denim Short Sleeve Button Down Shirt with Pocket, Sizes: M, L, XL, 2XL $25.00.Three View Tee Shirts, Sizes: M, L, XL, 2XL $15.00. Colored Tee Shirt, Sizes: M, L, XL, 2XL $15.00.Sweat Shirt Gray 8oz. Sizes M, L, XL, 2XL $25.00.Unit Replica Patches 457th ,458th, 459th, 535th, 536th, 537th 483rd $5.00.DVD. Doc Kugler’s: “A Day In The life of a Caribou Pilot” $10.00._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

C-7A Caribou Association Order Form (Postage and Handling Included)

Qunty Item Size Color Price Amount____ Ball Cap ____ ________ $15.00 ___________ Polo Shirt ____ ________ $20.00 ___________ Denim shirt ____ ________ $25.00 ___________ Three View T Shirt ____ White $15.00 ___________ Colored T Shirts ____ ________ $15.00 ___________ Sweat Shirt 8oz. ____ Gray $25.00 ___________ Squadron Patches Squadron_______ $5.00 ___________ DVD $10.00 _______

TOTAL _______

Thanks a lot Sarge!Our young pilots loved the repair,

bought the airplane and we departedthe jungle airstrip just before sunset

Official Policy on Collecting Caribou Tax(Dues)

Jim Collier: Treasurer, Roster ChairmanAt the 2001 Las Vegas Reunion the membership voted to discon-

tinue sending News Letters to lapsed members. We also voted not tocollect past dues, so any contribution you care to remit will be placedtoward 2005 and forward. The Caribou Tax is $10 a year, multiple yearsgladly accepted, and may be sent and payable to “C-7A Caribou Asso-ciation” at: Jim Collier, 5607 Jolly Court, Fair Oaks, CA 95628-2707.For a mere $10.00 “Caribou Tax” per year you are entitled to claimmembership, attend reunions and receive the newsletter.

– fast and low with just enough run-way left to get us over the trees andon home.Bob Bowers [536, 66]

Make Check payable to C-7A Caribou AssociationMail to: Caribou StoreAttn: Bob Markham838 Chestnut Ave.Redlands CA 92373

For more information please call(909) 792-0848

[email protected]


5607 Jolly Ct.Fair Oaks, CA [email protected]

Address Service Requested

Non Profit Org.U.S. Postage Paid

Tulsa, OKPermit No. 1957

VITAL STATISTICS: July 2005

Check your vital statistics and mail label to insurethat the information is correct. Send changes to:

C-7A Caribou AssociationAttn: Jim Collier5607 Jolly Ct. _____________________Fair Oaks, CA 95628-2707 TODAY’S DATE

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________TAX YEAR SQUADRON ARRIVAL YR. RANK AREA CODE TELEPHONE

________________________________________________________________________________LAST NAME FIRST NAME MIDDLE INITIAL

_________________________________________________________________________________STREET ADDRESS

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________CITY STATE ZIP CODE PLUS 4 E-MAIL ADDRESS

July 2005

The following message was left onour web site by Andrew P. “Buzz”Wrobel

Just Looking Back.I was stationed at Cam Rhan 69/

70 with the 12th TFW Engineers. Ihave since gotten old and tonight wasbringing back memories of my timein S.E. Asia. Coming to the web sitebrought back old memories for meand especially of a TDY flight I tookwith you guys on a bou while drop-ping off a generator and other powerproduction equipment in country.

What a ride, quite an aircraft andsome of the best bush pilots in theworld in the front seats. They couldmake that plane almost walk on theground. I recall most the take off and

pullout to altitude and how nifty thislittle machine flew. My thoughts arewith the guys who flew them hero-ically and with those who never cameback. My prayers are always with youguys, especially those in the 483rd. Ihave since retired after 28 years as aPolice Officer in North Eastern Penn-sylvania, but the memories of theflight line, takeoffs and landings ofthe C-7A’s are with me as if it wasyesterday. God Bless You All.

Andrew P. “Buzz” Wrobel

july 2005 c-7a caribou association page 1 c-7a caribou ... · the air show was the draw. this time...

Documents